{"id":380619,"date":"2026-01-20T16:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T16:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/380619\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T16:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T16:48:09","slug":"jannik-sinner-powers-into-australian-open-second-round-while-monfils-says-goodbye-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/380619\/","title":{"rendered":"Jannik Sinner powers into Australian Open second round while Monfils says goodbye | Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

The defending champion Jannik Sinner advanced to the second round of the Australian Open<\/a> on Tuesday, taking just over an hour after his French opponent Hugo Gaston retired upon losing the first two sets 6-2, 6-1.<\/p>\n

In his first official match since beating Carlos Alcaraz for the ATP Finals crown<\/a> in November, the Italian world No 2 was in ominous form on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

After losing the second set, Gaston gestured he could no longer continue and retired to his seat to cry under a towel. Sinner said he was surprised by the retirement but could see Gaston was not at his best.<\/p>\n

Sinner will continue his bid for a third successive Australian Open crown against the winner of the first-round match between James Duckworth and Dino Prizmic.<\/p>\n

In a match between left-handers, Ben Shelton, a semi-finalist in last year\u2019s tournament, overcame Ugo Humbert 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) to reach the second round.<\/p>\n

The No 8 seed said it was one of the toughest first-round matches he could have faced, with Humbert ranked No 33. Humbert had the highest ranking of the unseeded players. \u201cI thought I stayed really calm today,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cOn a court like this, playing Ugo in the first round is a tough draw. I felt I found some of my better tennis late in the match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shelton will next face Australian qualifier Dane Sweeny, who ended the 20th and final Australian Open campaign for 39-year-old Frenchman Ga\u00ebl Monfils.<\/p>\n

Ga\u00ebl Monfils says farewell to the Melbourne Park crowd after defeat in the first round of his 20th Australian Open campaign. Photograph: Paul Crock\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Fifth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti advanced when Rapha\u00ebl Collignon retired in the fourth set. The score was 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 3-2 when the Belgian player quit due to cramping and dizziness.<\/p>\n

Also advancing were Eliot Spizzirri, who beat rising star Jo\u00e3o Fonseca, the 19-year-old Brazilian and No 28 seed, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. The world No 15, Karen Khachanov is also through as is Argentina\u2019s Sebastian Baez, who outlasted Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3.<\/p>\n

Popular Frenchman Monfils said farewell to Melbourne Park with an epic defeat and afterwards gave his thanks for \u201can amazing ride\u201d.<\/p>\n

Monfils was bundled out in the first round in a brave goodbye to a tournament he has lit up so many times down the years. The 39-year-old, battled all the way but Australian qualifier Sweeny prevailed 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-4, 7-5 in an epic lasting nearly four hours.<\/p>\n

There was an on-court presentation and standing ovation afterwards for Monfils, who said: \u201cSomehow it is the finish line, but thank you so much for an amazing ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monfils, who has won 13 ATP titles in a career stretching back to 2004, said in October that this year would be his last in tennis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The defending champion Jannik Sinner advanced to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday, taking just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-380619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}